Monday, March 20, 2006
Plainville 2, Bethel 3
No it's not a baseball score...
I did Plainville 40+ Saturday. Rode an hour in the FREEZING cold the long way from my house down there. Stood around for a half hour and got colder. Took off a layer at the start line and was so cold my teeth were chattering. The gun went off and within the first 5 laps I went into what I can only describe as exercise-induced asthma. Weird. Has never happened to me before. Pulled over and sat there until the field came around again, jumped back in, and was fine for the rest of the race. This course is BORING. You are constantly turning, and the wind was brutal. A break got away (one rider was a Junior; Matt Carpenter's son) and Tom Stevens took an incredible two-lap pull to nearly close the 15 sec. gap going into the next to last turn on the bell lap. Our pal Mike Norton took the win. I rode another hour home, into the wind AND uphill.
Bethel...Wade and I cruised down in the car, watching the snow flakes fly occasionally on our way. We did about a 15 min. warmup then on the line the official says "What do you guys (there were only about 20 of us) think about 30 minutes + 5 laps." There was no argument. Things were easy for a lap, then a solo rider went, eventually came back, another solo went and came back, then a couple guys (maybe more?) went, Wade tried to bridge, Bodin countered wicked hard we caught Wade at the bottom of the hill, and then suddenly, there were more people up the road than the "field" of 6 that Wade and I were in. Don't know who won; don't care. Probably the coldest race I've ever done but at least it wasn't snowing like it was as we pulled away in the car and the 1-2-3 race was on.
I did Plainville 40+ Saturday. Rode an hour in the FREEZING cold the long way from my house down there. Stood around for a half hour and got colder. Took off a layer at the start line and was so cold my teeth were chattering. The gun went off and within the first 5 laps I went into what I can only describe as exercise-induced asthma. Weird. Has never happened to me before. Pulled over and sat there until the field came around again, jumped back in, and was fine for the rest of the race. This course is BORING. You are constantly turning, and the wind was brutal. A break got away (one rider was a Junior; Matt Carpenter's son) and Tom Stevens took an incredible two-lap pull to nearly close the 15 sec. gap going into the next to last turn on the bell lap. Our pal Mike Norton took the win. I rode another hour home, into the wind AND uphill.
Bethel...Wade and I cruised down in the car, watching the snow flakes fly occasionally on our way. We did about a 15 min. warmup then on the line the official says "What do you guys (there were only about 20 of us) think about 30 minutes + 5 laps." There was no argument. Things were easy for a lap, then a solo rider went, eventually came back, another solo went and came back, then a couple guys (maybe more?) went, Wade tried to bridge, Bodin countered wicked hard we caught Wade at the bottom of the hill, and then suddenly, there were more people up the road than the "field" of 6 that Wade and I were in. Don't know who won; don't care. Probably the coldest race I've ever done but at least it wasn't snowing like it was as we pulled away in the car and the 1-2-3 race was on.
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Saturday was a tough little race. Very windy, not all that warm. Ed up the road in a group of 3. Arlen in the chase group of 3 and Pauly and I in the "field". Ed's group lapped us and Arlen almost did. Ed's break companions saw Arlen approaching and gassed it. Nothing we could do about that. We caught Arlen about 10 minutes later. About dropping back to help Arlen -it is against the rules. You can always claim you just got dropped and by latching on to the chase group you managed to get back on. The officals won't by it.
Sunday. I turned 37 years old. One of the coldest road races I've done. Snow in the air. Mike shorten the race to 30 mintues plus 5 laps. Usually I hate when they shorten races but in this case I was OK with it. Really felt Saturday's 4+ hours. Legs didn't have it. I tried to bridge solo to the break but got caught on the hill and was countered HARD. The small field split and Wayne and I were left to ride around in the 8 man field. There was a glimmer of hope we could catch the group in front, we got pretty close but they had a bit more fire power. Good work out for a day that would have seen my ass on the couch if I didn't go race. Wayne and I stopped for Starbucks on the way home and ran into the Stage One Brians. We all had the look of "well that was fun..."
Wade
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Sunday. I turned 37 years old. One of the coldest road races I've done. Snow in the air. Mike shorten the race to 30 mintues plus 5 laps. Usually I hate when they shorten races but in this case I was OK with it. Really felt Saturday's 4+ hours. Legs didn't have it. I tried to bridge solo to the break but got caught on the hill and was countered HARD. The small field split and Wayne and I were left to ride around in the 8 man field. There was a glimmer of hope we could catch the group in front, we got pretty close but they had a bit more fire power. Good work out for a day that would have seen my ass on the couch if I didn't go race. Wayne and I stopped for Starbucks on the way home and ran into the Stage One Brians. We all had the look of "well that was fun..."
Wade
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